From Skaven to God of War

Chapter 165: Cruel means, slave trade, and taxes for the Rat War
A head was thrown off.

This is a head with a look of shock, anger and unwillingness.

It rolled on the grass until it stopped in front of an elderly priest.

On the grassland, in each tribe, the leader and the priest are the two people who decide everything in the tribe.

Their relationship wasn't that bad.

Or perhaps it is because the priest is always the oldest elder in the tribe.

His body trembled even more, and he wanted to touch the head in front of him that was still open-eyed.

But he was interrupted by those cold words.

"Gather all the warriors in your tribe."

The wolf knight leader attached great importance to this group of sheep orcs. After all, their great king almost suffered a defeat on this grassland.

His cold gaze fell on the elderly priest in front of him, with a scrutinizing look.

But although he took it seriously, the wolf orc leader riding on the giant wolf always felt superior when facing the old priest in front of him.

The argali tribe in front of them was not small. Even though they were at a disadvantage when facing the wolf-orc knights entrenched outside the tribe, they were not without the power to resist.

But they will probably give in anyway.

It was not because of the werewolf knight who had arrived in front of him, nor was it because the wolf-orc commander took the initiative to kill the leader of the tribe.

With just a call, the angry argali warriors in the tribe behind him would come out one after another, but the old priest did not do so.

He knelt down trembling.

In front of him, behind the Wolf Knight Commander, a dazzling flag was fluttering, and the aura of the gods on it was so clear and rich.

The god who was worshipped and held high betrayed the Argali people.

After the leaders were killed and the priests knelt down in sorrow, even the force of the Argali tribe left on this Four Seasons Pasture far exceeded that of the wolf riders who had arrived.

But they lost the power to resist due to the betrayal of the gods and the silence of most of the priests.

Of course, there are some guys who don't cooperate.

Although the wolf riders who came to Four Seasons Ranch for support were only a reserve team, they had an absolute advantage when facing any scattered tribe.

Those who did not cooperate were all killed.

The wolf rider commander successfully completed the gathering of most of the remaining forces of the Argali tribe.

At the same time, the migration of these large and small argali tribes began.

After leaving behind most of the giant sheep, these argali tribes headed towards the grassland pasture promised by the wolf-orc commander.

They were unwilling, but the warriors of the tribe had already been drafted away and far away from the tribe.

There was no strength left to resist.

When the wolf orc commander and his wolf riders blocked the tribe again, there was only one choice left.

Or they could believe in the promise made by the wolf orc commander and lead the tribe deeper into the grassland as the severe winter is approaching.

According to the wolf orc commander, there were more vast pastures and prepared food.

Or, be killed.

There was simply no choice. Under the leadership of the silent priest and escorted by the wolf knight, the old and weak argali tribe members left behind most of the giant sheep and embarked on the road of migration.

The wolf riders received a huge amount of supplies.

Enough for them to survive the winter in abundance, enough for them to wage the war for a long time.

At the same time, the group of argali riders became more obedient, taking into consideration the elderly and weak who were taken away, and their relatives and tribes.

This group of grassland barbarians who have experienced the baptism of civilization are no longer as free and easy as they used to be.

Only the wolf people know the direction and specific location of the migration of the argali tribe.

They are not afraid of war and death, but they still have concerns.

Surrender to the group of wolf knights and obey the command of the wolf knight commander.

However, can such surrender really bring any good results? Can these argali riders really see their loved ones return to their tribe again?

Although the argali tribe nominally joined the grassland empire as members, in fact the commander of this group of wolf riders did not seem to take this seriously.

What the argali knights don’t know is that their gods, the gods they worship, are no longer limited to their own argali tribe.

Some wolf orcs have developed new beliefs under the command of the wolf orc king, and even priests of the argali gods have been born among the wolf orcs.

Gods are a valuable resource, even if they are just apprentices.

It is doubtful whether the argali are still so important in the eyes of their gods.

Those wolf riders who had escorted the argali tribes away soon turned back. It seemed that they had not gone very far, and were stained with some bright red marks, like freshly coagulated blood.

The commander of this group of wolf riders was decisive and resourceful, and he quickly integrated the remaining forces of the Argali Tribe.

Be prepared, be prepared to face the attack from outsiders.

And then, he punched the cotton.

There was no attack at all, and no trace of the enemy was seen. The Wolf Knight Commander who stayed deep in the Four Seasons Ranch did not wait for any enemy.

During this period, Shuzhan was recruiting troops and had no intention of going to war. And those rat scavengers who were actively rushing out had more lucrative targets in mind and were running around wantonly on the grassland.

They were hunting the scattered sheep-orc tribes outside the Four Seasons Ranch.

After almost all the warriors were lost, these large and small sheep-orc tribes unsurprisingly became the fat pies scattered on the grassland.

Large groups of rat-men scavengers are chasing their tracks across this vast four-season pasture.

Especially recently, a large tribe of sheep orcs was targeted and broken by a large group of rat scavengers.

That harvest is really enviable.

The rat scavengers who had been following Shuzhan to pick up garbage had never seen such a scene before.

Large groups of giant sheep were driven out of the grassland city, but this was not the biggest gain. The biggest gain was the large number of sheep orc slaves who were captured.

This is a rare commodity. Although the Rat War caused a bloodbath on the grassland, this killer left no one alive.

In most cases, there were piles of corpses, sometimes without their heads.

Living slaves were undoubtedly more popular than corpses.

Even the commander of the temple guards, the real big shot who served the gods, showed up.

Although these sheep-orc slaves did not satisfy the commander of the temple guards, the best sacrifices still had to be powerful warriors, enemy priests, or leaders.

But unfortunately, these guys were all chopped to pieces by Shu Zhan.

There was no other way, so with a wave of their hands, the temple guards bought all the sheep orc slaves and the giant sheep.

Preparing to send them back to the Desolate Mountains can be considered as his own achievement. After all, the main temple of the great god in the Desolate Mountains has never been offered a sheep orc sacrifice. As for these giant sheep, they will do the same thing as Rat War, preparing to bleed them to fill the blood pool.

The temple guards offered a very generous price, as these guys have never been short of blood mushrooms.

That's a pretty huge number.

Even during the transaction negotiations, the captain of the large scavenging team knelt and looked humble in front of these temple guards.

But if given a choice, most ratmen would rather be the ones kneeling before the temple guards.

In the end, even the Rat War was alarmed.

Shu Zhan felt something was wrong when he saw this situation. He was keenly aware of it.

Wait! These guys bought slaves and brought them back to the Desolate Mountains instead of offering them as sacrifices in the temple in this prairie city?
Although Shu Zhan didn't care how these guys tinkered, after all, no matter how they tinkered, half of the blood mushrooms produced in the temple of the grassland city would fall into his hands.

But you went to capture the sheep orc tribe that I had defeated, and then traded with those temple guards, instead of offering sacrifices in this grassland city?

This is not allowed! This is absolutely not allowed!

Shu Zhan realized something was wrong right away, but he didn't mobilize a large force to cause trouble for the temple guards. These guys ignored him after being tricked by him. It would be a waste of time if he didn't bother to do it.

And this problem is easy to solve.

The arrival of Rat War directly interrupted the captain of the large scavenging team's dream of getting rich overnight.

It’s directly an 80% commission.

When Shu Zhan could slaughter these guys like pigs, he was not polite at all.

In a daze, the captain of the large scavenging team's facial expression changed drastically. His face turned red almost instantly, and his expression became ferocious and terrifying, with his eyes bloodshot.

Then, he glanced at Rat War.

Shu Zhan was looking at him with interest at that time.

This moment.

All the emotions were suppressed, the flushed face was forced back, and a flattering expression was forced towards Shu Zhan.

The captain of this large scavenging team is very self-aware.

However, the changing expressions and the ups and downs of emotions were inevitably a bit unnatural. This flattering smile seemed particularly twisted and weird.

Shu Zhan shook his head with some regret. If the guy in front of him didn't know what was good for him, he would have more blood mushrooms in his hands.

He found that he was short of blood mushrooms again. Although the blood mushrooms in the temple had not stopped popping up for the time being, he was currently preparing and forming a second round of ferocious knights.

He looked enviously at the huge bell in the temple of the gods, which was much larger and had more intricate patterns carved on it.

Although Shu Zhan is considered wealthy in the Ratman Kingdom, compared to those real wealthy people, those senior ratman priests and these temple guards, what Shu Zhan has in his hands is really not much.

The giant bell in the temple outside the grassland city has been replaced with a bigger, better one with a clearer sound.

Withdrew his gaze.

Rat War left.

The captain of the large scavenging team was left behind, crying and laughing.

Regret and resentment linger in my heart for a long time.

Even if Shu Zhan directly took 80% of the commission, he could still make a lot of money, but he just couldn't make that much.

But if you can’t earn more, then you will earn less!

New rules were established, and Rat War would take a commission from all transactions in Prairie City.

A new thing was officially put on the table by the not-so-rich Rat War: taxes.

The great warlord Shuzhan began to collect taxes.

In particular, the trade of slaves was subject to heavy taxes.

For ordinary transactions involving blood mushrooms, a 50% tax will be levied.

If it is a slave trade, the rate is 80%.

An interesting point emerged. In the rules of the Rat War, slave trading did not include the buying and selling of slave rats. The buying and selling of slave rats was classified as ordinary buying and selling activities.

With the above two items, plus the five-level commission on blood mushrooms in the temple, it is conservative to call Rat War a tax. In fact, there is no problem in calling it exploitation.

But after all, this is also a kind of progress.

Yes, whenever the god Du Yuan saw this, he would write a record in his notebook.

The rat people's civilization progress increased by one again.

Later, many strange things happened in this grassland city because of the tax issues caused by the Rat War.

The most direct manifestation is that.

It is simply impossible to collect ordinary trading taxes from Shu Zhan. Although it is true that Shu Zhan is the commander-in-chief, it is still very difficult to get rice from the mouths of these rats.

The Rat War sent out the Rat Supervision Team to collect taxes. These supervision teams ruthlessly executed the fleeing Rat people one after another on the battlefield, but they had no way to deal with this group of guys who were thinking of all kinds of ways to evade taxes.

If these guys are pushed into a corner, they will even choose the most primitive method of bartering.

Anyway, it's a life-threatening situation. There is not a single blood mushroom, and what is collected are bags of low-quality blood mushroom powder.

When Shu Zhan saw these inferior blood mushroom powders for the first time, he fell into deep thought.

What is this?
This was the first question that came to Shu Zhan’s mind.

But it’s no wonder that there was a rat war.

These inferior blood mushroom powders are just like their name suggests, they are truly inferior stuff, and are definitely adulterated, at least half of them. The better ones use cave mushroom powder, which has the closest texture.

The ones that are worse are not acted at all, they are just filled with dirt, sawdust and some other messy stuff.

During the Rat War, this general transaction tax was shelved.

In fact, there are still some guys who can collect this tax, such as those big claw priests, but Shu Zhan is not stupid.

Most of his army's replenishment and logistics depend on the support of these Big Claw Priests. He has offended so many guys in the Ratman Kingdom, but he has never had a conflict with the Big Claw Priests.

But the slave tax was still collected.

Although the temple guards no longer ask for as high a price as they did the first time, they still want slaves.

Overall, there is still some profit to be made, even though Rat War takes a high cut.

A large number of ratmen began to break into the grassland in front of them, dreaming of getting rich by capturing slaves.

In this situation.

The weather was getting colder and colder, and fine snow covered the vast grassland overnight.

The cold winter has arrived.

(End of this chapter)